Senior Executives at Major Chicken Producers Indicted on Antitrust Charges*
First Charges Filed in Ongoing Investigation into Fixing Prices of Broiler Chickens
A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, returned an indictment against four executives for their role in (...)

Konkurencijos taryba warns travel agencies to refrain from anti-competitive behaviour*
The Lithuanian competition authority Konkurencijos taryba responded to information on social media and warned travel agencies that their actions may be viewed as anti-competitive when some of them requested (...)

Generic Pharmaceutical Company Admits to Fixing Price of Widely Used Cholesterol Medication*
Apotex Corp. Agrees to Pay a $24.1 Million Criminal Penalty
Apotex Corp., a generic pharmaceutical company headquartered in Florida, was charged with fixing the price of the generic drug pravastatin, (...)

Webinar of the "Quarantine Webinar Series" organised by Concurrences with Maria Jaspers (Head of the Antitrust Policy and Case Support Unit, DG COMP) and Rainer Becker (Head of the Antitrust: Pharma and Health services Unit, DG COMP).

I. Introduction
On 2 April 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") delivered its judgment in Budapest Bank, another key ruling on the assessment of 'by object' restrictions of competition within the meaning of Article 101(1) TFEU. With this judgment, the (...)

The Competition Council detects competition deformation implemented in procurements by a local government and its capital company*
The Competition Council of Latvia (the CC) has closed the investigation case regarding activities by two companies – SIA “DAKO” and SIA “RUVAR” – in procurements on (...)

Due to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Brazilian Antitrust Authority (“CADE”) agreed to suspend the deadline for implementation of some antitrust compliance commitments undertaken in a Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) in the context of a cartel investigation.
In this short note we (...)

The Competition Bureau is watching for evidence of companies taking advantage of consumers by making false or misleading claims about a product’s ability to combat COVID-19 or engaging in price fixing, the Commissioner of Competition warned in a recent statement.
The Commissioner added that (...)

ACM’s oversight during the Coronavirus crisis*
The current Coronavirus outbreak has far-reaching effects on people and businesses. These are extraordinary times. ACM is closely monitoring economic developments, and is ready to answer any questions about collaborations that companies wish to (...)

DOJ and FTC To Focus On Antitrust and Consumer Protection Violations Relating to Coronavirus*
The rapidly evolving COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation is impacting local and global companies, disrupting supply chains, creating volatility in the stock market, and causing great concern in local (...)

The potential for government investigation increases during periods of rapid and extreme movement in price. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently reiterated its focus on prosecuting violations of antitrust laws, especially in areas affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
On March 9, 2020, (...)

Justice Department Cautions Business Community Against Violating Antitrust Laws in the Manufacturing, Distribution, and Sale of Public Health Products*
The Department of Justice today announced its intention to hold accountable anyone who violates the antitrust laws of the United States in (...)

As we all respond to COVID-19 (the coronavirus), we should keep an eye on the responsive measures being taken by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and consider how those measures might impact companies and individuals globally. The DOJ acts in several roles, including as a part of law (...)

As organizations are working to respond to the 2019 novel coronavirus (known as “COVID-19”), the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a reminder that emergency efforts do not negate the requirement to adhere to the antitrust laws, and that the DOJ stands ready to respond to market participants (...)

The DOJ’s Antitrust Division has signaled it will step up enforcement in response to COVID-19. While pandemics and Sherman Act investigations may not seem like the most intuitive pairing, it actually fits a historic pattern in which the DOJ ramps up antitrust enforcement during crises. There are (...)

COVID-19: The Reaction of U.S. Antitrust Agencies*
COVID-19 has impacted nearly every aspect of American life right now, and there are myriad legal issues companies are facing from the pandemic’s fallout. These include antitrust considerations, ranging from potentially criminal conduct to (...)

Two Commercial Flooring Executives Plead Guilty to Rigging Bids in Violation of Federal Antitrust Laws*
Two commercial flooring executives, Robert A. Patrey Jr. and Kenneth R. Smith, pleaded guilty for their role in an antitrust conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for commercial flooring (...)

The Seventh Circuit Explains the “Co-Conspiracy Exception” to the Illinois Brick Rule in Healthcare Antitrust Lawsuit*
Antitrust law evolves in such a way that opinions from federal appellate courts are always interesting in how they affect the doctrine. But there are a select few judges who (...)

State AGs Respond to COVID-19-Related “Price Gouging” and DOJ Antitrust Enforcement to Focus on Public Health Products*
The outbreak and continued spread of a new strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has led to surging demand for, and in some cases shortages in the supply of, a wide variety of (...)

On 4 March 2020, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) fined four pharmaceutical companies a total of £ 3.4 million for breaching competition law in relation to the supply of the antidepressant drug nortriptyline. The companies involved in the infringement were King Pharmaceuticals, (...)

Major Generic Pharmaceutical Company Admits to Antitrust Crimes: Sandoz Inc. Agrees to Pay a $195 Million Criminal Penalty, the Largest for a Domestic Antitrust Case*
Sandoz Inc., a generic pharmaceutical company headquartered in New Jersey, was charged for conspiring to allocate customers, (...)

A senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently confirmed that the Antitrust Division has opened multiple grand jury investigations in connection with the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (“Strike Force”) formed in November of last year. Speaking at a conference on February (...)

On 18 February 2020 the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (“CBb”) ruled that a company may still have an interest in bringing proceedings against a cartel infringement decision even if no fine is imposed on it and even if it is not the direct addressee of the infringement decision. In the (...)

In 2015, the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) fined ATFRIE and 12 refrigerated transport companies for colluding to fix prices in the refrigerated road transport sector in Spain from April 1993 to December 2012 (Decision of the CNMC of 25 June 2015, case S/0454/12, Transporte frigorífico). (...)

This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)

The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona has partially overturned eight judgments of two sections of the Juzgado de lo Mercantil of Barcelona which had awarded damages to several claimants in follow-on actions based on the Spanish envelope cartel case. The Audiencia Provincial partially accepts (...)

On 7 February 2020, the Regional Court of Munich (the “Court”) dismissed a follow-on claim for damages brought by litigation vehicle Financial right, a registered legal services company. The claim followed a 2016 fining decision of the European Commission (the “Commission”) against participants in (...)

Dutch national Maria Christina “Meta” Ullings was extradited from Italy to the United States on January 10. Ullings previously served as the senior vice president of cargo sales and marketing for Martinair N.V. (Martinair Cargo). On September 21, 2010, Ullings was originally charged in a public, (...)

The Spanish Competition and Markets Authority, CNMC, is investigating whether a number of companies active in maritime transport between Algeciras and Ceuta may be in breach of article 1 of the Spanish Competition Act (‘LDC’) and article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (‘TFEU’). (...)

The Autorité de la concurrence fines the four historical meal vouchers issuers for a total of nearly 415 M€, for anticompetitive practices*
Background
The Autorité has been informed of anti-competitive practices in the meal vouchers sector by the company Octoplus (Resto Flash), which offers a (...)

ACM AND THE FRENCH COMPETITION AUTHORITY HAVE WORKED TOGETHER IN FINING A FRENCH CARTEL*
The French competition authority today imposed fines, totalling 58.3 million euros, on seven food companies for concluding anticompetitive arrangements regarding the selling of apple sauce. These companies (...)

The Autorité de la concurrence hands down fine worth a total of up to 58.3 million euros to the main fruit-compote manufacturers for pricing agreement and market sharing*
Background
The Autorité publishes today a decision by which it fines a national cartel between the main fruit-compote (...)

Steel manufacturers fined record €646 million for agreeing surcharges and exchanging information*
The Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has fined three companies and three persons a total of approximately €646 million. The companies agreed and exchanged certain supplements and surcharges for so-called (...)

The legality of consortium agreements under competition law has been widely debated in recent years. On 27 November 2019 the Supreme Court rendered a much-anticipated judgment on this subject. The court repealed a Maritime and Commercial High Court decision from 2018 in a case concerning a (...)

On 26 November 2019, the Spanish Competition Authority (“CNMC”) imposed total fines of € 859,763 on several companies in the Vaillant Group, suppliers and repairers of gas boilers, for a breach of Article 1 of the Spanish Competition Act for anticompetitive restrictions in contracts concluded with (...)

German car manufacturers fined for anticompetitive practices in the purchase of steel*
The Bundeskartellamt has imposed fines totalling around 100 million euros on Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG for anticompetitive practices in the purchase of long steel products. (...)